Moon Dance

Photographer

Category

Nature Photography - Underwater

Company

Julian Hebenstreit

Submission Group

Professional

Year

2024

Country / Region:

Australia

Moon Dance shows a Reef Manta Ray during a behaviour also known as "barrel rolling". I'ts a feeding behaviour where a manta ray rolls backward multiple times, creating a vortex in the water which traps nutrients and plankton in its current, allowing the manta to keep rolling and feeding, with little effort. Around the time of a full moon, stronger tides usually cause a increase in nutrients in the water, which makes mantas a lot more active during this time.